Borderlands / La Frontera: The New Mestiza: The New Mestiza

Named one of the “Best Books of 1987” by Library Journal

Selected by Utne Reader as part of its “Alternative Canon” in 1998

One of Hungry Mind Review 's “Best 100 Books of the 20th Century”

Rooted in Gloria Anzaldúa’s experience as a Chicana, a lesbian, an activist, and a writer, the essays and poems in this volume profoundly challenged, and continue to challenge, how we think about identity. Borderlands/La Frontera remaps our understanding of what a “border” is, presenting it not as a simple divide between here and there, us and them, but as a psychic, social, and cultural terrain that we inhabit, and that inhabits all of us. This edition, released March 1, 2022, is more condensed, containing only the original text from 1987, and at a more accessible price point for readers. For those looking for a scholarly context to this crucial work, the Critical Edition is currently available.

The emotional and intellectual impact of the book is disorienting and powerful…all languages are spoken, and survival depends on understanding all modes of thought. In the borderlands new creatures come into being. Anzaldúa celebrates this "new mestiza" in bold, experimental writing. — The Village Voice

Anzaldúa's pulsating weaving of innovative poetry with sparse informative prose brings us deep into the insider/outsider consciousness of the borderlands; that ancient and contemporary, crashing and blending world that divides and unites America. — Women’s Review of Books